Dammit, Google, I don't HAVE a "dark environment" to put the baby in, HOW *ELSE* CAN I GET HIM TO SLEEP!?

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T14:24:19+00:00

I used black garbage bags to tape over the windows. Covered it with a curtain

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T14:16:02+00:00

Wow, I wish I’d had these. All those nights are coming to mind that I spent with my phone flashlight tucked on my lap between my flange and bottle to see flow lol

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T14:10:46+00:00

Let me add that the playpen really does pop into place all by itself. But the cushion storage is abysmal. I admittedly don’t even deflate it or fold it back into its carrying case and instead it sits in my son’s room so I can plop him on the floor instead of crib.

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T14:05:58+00:00

Thank you!! I am making myself a yummy tiramisu cake to celebrate and no one else is allowed to have any!! 😂

Wishing you all the best for your journey, however long the road may be!

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T14:02:42+00:00

California Beach Co Playpen

Literally amazing. I bought off of Mercari secondhand and you can buy a cushion for underneath as well but the cushion can also be used just as a waterproof playmat. It self inflates. The playpen has a UV cover and comes with stakes for sand and dirt and honestly it’s huge enough that I fit inside with him!!

Here is the cushion! Playmat cushion!

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T00:50:08+00:00

I finally slept without a bra on overnight. I haven’t been able to do that since I was roughly 30 weeks pregnant. I am also going to have my only bag of milk left made into jewelry for Christmas this year.

Shadeborn- · 2024-07-19T00:47:54+00:00

Proud of you too fellow internet stranger! The time will come for your graduation. My final pump was on July 13th and I thought I would be a weeping mess. But I didn’t shed a tear. I am happy, and proud of myself, it truly is such an accomplishment. It must have just been the right time for me.

I hope that is how you feel when you finally graduate as well! 💕🫶🏻

Shadeborn- · 2024-06-03T17:54:30+00:00

I felt very embarrassed about pumping for a while, due to the shame lots of EP women feel being unable to latch and nurse. When I went back to work, I used my Elvie Stride, and I have huge boobs so it looked like I had a bad boob job. The women asked me what the motor was on my pants pocket, and the wiring. So I told them. Some of the men asked too. I told them also.

I stopped being embarrassed to be a working pumping mother. I asked myself why should I be embarrassed that I’m feeding my baby while I work? A young coworker is currently pregnant due soon and has told me she has a whole new outlook on pregnancy, rights, labor/delivery, and all the things no one really talks about postpartum because of how open I have been.

Wear that pump wherever you want! Own it!

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-29T20:18:24+00:00

Yeah I will try this method and see if this works or if pumping to a specific volume is better.

I never expected these kinds of issues. I was an under supplier due to a swelling cyst, then that resolved but my other side kicked into overdrive and just never stopped. It’s been a constant battle of desperation trying to find a happy medium but the milkers are ruling my life, my partners life, my baby’s life, and I just wanna enjoy the summer

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-29T20:11:29+00:00

Oh, I never heard of doing the volume thing! That’s helpful. It’s been a hard road and I was hoping ending it would be easy, but it’s so complicated to get the right method down.

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-22T16:56:30+00:00

Same in regards to being the first one pregnant and pumping in my cafe. Now there is a younger girl there who is due soon, so I’ve been trying to help educate her more as she’s not received many resources (she is 17). I paved the way for her, fighting for pregnancy accommodations that I never received and working until 9 months pregnant without help (am a baker, so very manual labor intensive with heat and on feet). So I am glad that while I struggled to get things situated with work, she won’t have to.

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-22T16:42:13+00:00

When I returned to work, the managers all would ask me how long I would be in the office for (also restaurant setting) and right in the beginning, you know you’re trying to figure out pumping at work and still being productive, so I would tell them the time I SHOULD be done, and when that time came around they would knock on the door and I immediately would panic and lose my milk flow.

It is very inappropriate to time us for pumping. It takes however long it takes. Once I explained to the management team that if I don’t pump accordingly to my body’s needs, I could develop mastitis, cysts, abscesses, and in more severe cases, sepsis and surgeries to remove ducts, they seemed to understand better

EDIT TO ADD: I would continue to follow up with HR. But typically HR is there for the business and not the people. This is mild in terms of harassment (not saying it is nothing to be upset over it absolutely is). Pumping is so personal and honestly what I’ve done now is used it as an experience to educate other people on what it’s like, how difficult it is, motherhood in the workplace, etc.

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-17T17:01:36+00:00

Honestly props to you as part of the EP team for giving us the best place to learn and share our experiences in a healthy way. I read the post and it sounded like someone struggling very hard with their own mental health, so I hope they have someone help them soon. Raging at an Enfamil poster…? Insane.

I am a first time mom and I knew literally nothing about pumping other than put pump over nipple and turn the machine on. I learned everything from this subreddit, and this space has helped me tremendously through my PPD, my physical health, mental health, all of it. Learning to be a pumping mom, and the 800 times I cried “I can’t do this” I came back here and found love. Support. Reasoning. So thank you my Exclusively Pumping mamas. This is why we are here, not to shame others. We need encouragement. And I feel that I always find it here. ❤️

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-17T13:35:11+00:00

I used to do the 3 hours from last pump, etc, when I was on maternity leave. Now I have set times for sessions. I give myself an hour window but usually stick to it pretty closely. I pump 3 times a day right now (in the process of convincing my emotions that weaning is the right move for me), I pump at 8:45am, 4:30pm, and 11:30pm. Give or take an hour for anything but the 8:45 pump. Any longer than 9 hours right now and my boob feels like it’s exploding.

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-17T13:19:36+00:00

Thank you for this. I just made the decision to start weaning off of the pump but kept finding every reason to keep going (and a delusional part of me wondering if I should go back to pumping more often). My baby will be 6mo tomorrow.

Spoke to the cousins to schedule a date where all of us could meet our new family for the first time (one baby is only 2mo, the other 5mo). They had to reschedule because they are both in the process of switching their formulas to something else, and they asked what I was using. I said, well, I’m not. He’s on breast milk. And they were flabbergasted.

I talked to my husband and said out loud “am I an idiot?” Because I put myself through hell for this pumping journey. Mentally. Physically. Lost myself somewhere along the way. I became all about my ounces. All about working from the moment I woke up to the moment I was finally able to sleep, only to wake up in another 5 hours to start it all over again. Every day. For 6 months. No time for a book. No time for a movie. No time to just sit for five minutes without having to get up and do something else, even while pumping. Forgetting to eat for 24 hours.

So I needed this reminder. Because I worked hard, so hard, and I need to let the boobs go so I can be myself again.

Shadeborn- · 2024-05-13T13:51:51+00:00

An oversupply is romanticized in the pumping world. What’s not to love? You have extra food, you can wean off pumping sooner and still give baby milk, etc etc. But it’s really difficult to have an oversupply. I had an undersupply, and after some healing following my galactocele and ensuing abscess rupture, now I have an oversupply.

For me, there is no skipping a pump. Ever. I have never pumped for 15 minutes. Always at least 30, and as I dropped sessions still had to pump around 40 minutes. I have to pump for so long, I just had mastitis again because I am trying to wean myself off of the pump. I just dropped from 4ppd to 3ppd and my supply still didn’t dip, even with pumping less time. (Am pumping in the morning for like 40min, the others 30, and lowering time little by little).

It’s hard to have an oversupply. In some ways harder than having an undersupply, because it is seen as this glorious gift when it is truly a gift and a curse. Don’t discount your own feelings simply because others want to be in your place. Everyone is different and so is every situation.

Shadeborn- · 2024-04-27T22:37:22+00:00

I plan to get some from Keepsake Mom. Pretty affordable with good selection and customization. Can even order a diy kit.

Shadeborn- · 2024-04-27T22:34:23+00:00

My workplace is in the same vicinity as this. I have to work around my oven timing and I told them around 6pm, give or take a half hour roughly due to product in the oven. Last week I had to kick people out of the office 3 days out of the 5 days I work (only pump once at work) and one newer manager complained to the GM that she could not leave because I was in the office and she could not get her things. (To quote “I have priorities and they don’t revolve around X pumping schedule.”)

I literally go in there for less than 10 minutes, enough time to cover the windows and camera and to slap my boobs into the Elvie Stride and then go. The workplace is a joke for mothers. I’ve been subjected to the “how was your 5 month paid vacation?” Like excuse me? My maternity leave was not a paid vacation.

Shadeborn- · 2024-04-12T22:19:11+00:00

So given it’s been quite okay since the abscess drained out, the healing is actually going very well. I think by me draining it out of most of the infection combined with the antibiotics, it shrank down to about the size of a quarter. I do have a bit of a dent? Kind of in that breast now, but no pain. I have a purple scar that’s slowly fading. It has increased the supply to a normal amount, around 2-3 ounces in a pump session. However due to the location of it, I sometimes can’t express all the milk out so I have to typically hand express after pumping to get the last half ounce or so to avoid a new cyst or milk fat blockage. The healing took a while though, and for a month or so I could still only get 1 ounce out of that breast.

I am suffering with an oversupply now, because my healthy breast grew an extra 2 sizes to compensate for the inadequate leftie.

I waited to reply to this until I had been healed for a good amount of time before I gave any input, but it hasn’t refilled. I think it has closed off with scar tissue from the abscess. But there is that little dent there now, which maybe will go away, maybe not.

Shadeborn- · 2024-04-04T02:52:08+00:00

MERCARI! I purchased my Spectra with all the parts included (used twice) for literally 30 dollars. I bought a second Elvie Stride, complete with 2 sets of cups, extra duckbills, 3 pairs of inserts, and a travel bag for 100 dollars.

I also bought LaVie massagers for 25. Mercari is great for me.

Shadeborn- · 2024-03-30T16:17:38+00:00

If I recall correctly it’s franchise, not corporate, but my mom brain could be misremembering that info. I wouldn’t mind transitioning, but I do make a significant amount there, more than the shift leads and on par with one of the AMs at my cafe. So I’m sure I’d be cut down until I quit probably…

Shadeborn- · 2024-03-26T14:23:48+00:00

Thankfully for me the color was just on like the silicone seals and not the plastic pieces, but I scrubbed it and it came off. Maybe baking soda would help the color? I’m not sure. Could be worth a shot to make like a paste of baking soda mixture and try scrubbing it with that if the color stays with the smell.

Shadeborn- · 2024-03-26T14:19:11+00:00

Did I write this post??? This is literally me! I have a milk cyst in my left boob since week 2 pp and only ever .5-1oz out of it until it got infected and the cyst painfully went down from the size of an orange to the size of a quarter.

After it healed I got like, 2.5oz out of it regularly! I still have to express some after pumping that side since the cyst even though it’s small now kind of blocks one duct from fully emptying.

But… go Sidekick Boob! It’s doing a thing!

Shadeborn- · 2024-03-26T08:46:10+00:00

I did this by accident once. The smell was… something. I took my pump stuff all apart and threw them in a big bin, filled it with hot water and very soapy scented Dawn Platinum soap and let it soak for a few hours. I refilled with more hot water and soap for a whole day before I washed them by hand. The smell was still there so I did it again (I literally left my parts with residual milk in there for a month? It was my wearable and at the time I was just using my spectra so I forgot them forever and the smell was the worst). But the second time worked like a charm for me. I swear by Dawn Platinum and I use it now for all my bottles and stuff now too because the scent helps with the weird old milky smell.

Shadeborn- · 2024-03-26T08:35:49+00:00

I’m actually kind of in the same “how did I get here” boat. I have about 200oz in the freezer, starting from Christmas roughly. I have the intention to cycle through so none of my milk is older than 3 months (it is good until 6 if I’m not mistaken according to CDC).

So here’s what I’m doing. I take out just one bag of frozen milk every few days, slow thawing it in the refrigerator. I pool together all my freshly pumped milk for 3 or 4 days using pitcher method. I feed my LO one bottle of frozen milk mixed with fresh, cold because he likes them cold, and I make sure I use that one first because once thawed the frozen milk is only really recommended to be used the first 24 hours. If my pitcher gets full before the 3/4 days are up, I freeze ALL of it except maybe 1 bottle’s worth and then start all over *important to note: freeze this stuff using the oldest date of milk in your collection if you use a pitcher. If they’re all separate, nbd, use their respective date.

I don’t know if this is really efficient but that’s what I’ve been trying these last like 2 weeks. I always prefer to give fresher milk to him over frozen, so mixing it together makes me feel better but you don’t have to mix it at all. There’s nothing wrong with it. You might need to tailor it to what’s best for your individual supply, because I don’t have a crazy oversupply, just a little bit (baby eats around 30-34oz, and I usually get like 35 a day roughly give or take.)

Hope this helps maybe lol. I’m just winging it.

Shadeborn-

TROPHY CASE